


At Ease

by tirsynni



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Platonic Valentine's Day Fluff, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Pre-End Credits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 13:51:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13683006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tirsynni/pseuds/tirsynni
Summary: When Loki returned to Thor, he wasn't expecting anything to be easy.





	At Ease

“If you were here, I might even give you a hug.”

The stopper flew toward him as if in slow motion. Loki watched it and his mind raced, option after option flitting past. Beyond the stopper was Thor’s face, one-eyed and weary, and perhaps Loki felt weary, too. A dozen options, but truthfully, he made the decision when he slipped into Thor’s room.

Loki caught the stopper with one hand. His smile felt easy on his face, remarkably so. “I’m here,” and those words felt even easier. It wasn’t the flashy entrance he preferred, but there was something ridiculously warming about Thor’s face brightening into a smile. 

All of it seemed ridiculous. For once, Thor spoke truly: their paths had diverged a long time ago. Yet nothing ever felt as right as Thor smiling at him like that.

Easy. It felt easy when Loki knew it was anything but.

Easy, like letting Thor walk toward him and wrap his arms around him in a too-tight hug. Easy, like wrapping his own arms around Thor and holding him back. Against his will, Loki’s eyes closed and Thor wasn’t King of Asgard but Big Brother. Ridiculously, foolishly easy.

Thor exhaled beside his ear. He smelled like blood and ozone, sweat and dust. He smelled like the old Thor and still somehow something new. Loki inhaled and smelled the last of Asgard there. 

Sentiment. Loki waited for it. He waited for Thor to speak. Then he would need to respond and the moment would shatter and momentum would carry them forward. That would be easy, too, perhaps even easier than this.

But Thor kept his silence. When he pulled back, it wasn’t far: a hand clasped to the back of Loki’s neck, foreheads pressed together. Loki’s eyes burned. What a foolish brother he had.

Thor bade him to destroy Asgard, to burn Hela and the kingdom. Calling him “brother” wasn’t a sentiment built on Odin’s lies but a gift Loki willingly gave. How many people let him destroy an entire realm, after all?

Chuckling, Loki pulled back, and their hands slipped away from each other. Thor allowed it. If Loki’s laughter confused him, it didn’t show: Thor continued to smile at him, fond and sweet. So utterly ridiculous.

Loki shook his head. “You smell disgusting, Brother. Did you even shower?”

Thor laughed and Loki tasted it in the air, a bite of lightning sparking between them. Truly, it was a good thing he returned. How much control did Thor even have of his lightning? It would be terrible, indeed, if Asgard’s own king killed their surviving people because he sneezed and caused a lightning storm. “Not yet. I have no idea what  _ he  _ did in there, and even my courage has limits.”

Orgies. Really, Loki thought it was obvious. He kept his tongue, though. He would wait until he talked Thor into taking a shower before sharing that information. “Have you been to the healers? No, of course not. It’s not like you lost an eye or anything.”

Another laugh, soothing and familiar, and it was so  _ easy _ to grab Thor’s arm and lead him to a seat. He considered the bed, but if Thor was worried about the shower, his feelings on the bed would be obvious. Thor followed, quiet and meek and still with that small, fond smile, and it was so different from before but that only increased the ease. The Thor of  _ before _ would mock him for being a fretful old maid, but this one-eyed, short-haired Thor only looked pleased. Thor sat and watched him and perhaps...perhaps…

Loki swallowed and let the silence take them. The room was soundproof, and while later that would disturb Loki, for now it let them have this little bubble. Loki knew, mayhap even more than Thor, what laid outside the room. No, definitely more than Thor, for he knew what he had hidden away, what waited for them deep in the depths of space. In here, now, there was peace, Thor sitting and waiting.

“This must hurt,” he murmured, pulling away the delicate cover. There was still dried blood around the empty socket. Loki’s fingertips glowed green as he gently cleaned it away.

Thor shrugged. His remaining eye was a brilliant blue, clearer than Loki could ever remember seeing it. “Not really. A phantom pain, like the emptiness itself hurts. It is odd.”

Loki hummed and studied the wound. He remembered hearing of the legends of how Odin lost his eye, and he remembered mocking them.  _ He _ knew the truth. It was just a wartime injury. Nothing so great and dramatic as the tellings teased. Yet now he wondered, looking between the two eyes, if perhaps legend spoke greater truth than reality did.

“And the rest of you?” he inquired, healing what little he could. It wasn’t much. His magic rested in fighting and illusions. Loki brushed his fingers over the wrinkles beside the empty eye. They smoothed, just a bit, at his touch.

“Sore, but well.” Thor’s smile grew sweet, like Loki wasn’t examining what should have been an actual eye. “Your touch reminds me of Mother’s.”

Loki’s hand stilled. “Oh?”

Thor reached up and held Loki’s hand in his own. “Yes,” he said, like it was that simple.

To Thor, perhaps it was. Loki shook his head but didn’t free his hand. Perhaps to Thor, all of this was that easy.

If Loki was correct, as he usually was, this would be the last of their ease for a while. A shadow was coming, with a strength like his brother had never seen. When it came, perhaps Loki would regret not running when he had the chance. 

With his free hand, he reached out and cupped the back of Thor’s neck. He rested their heads together and closed his eyes. Thor felt warm and solid against his palm. “You are an idiot, Brother,” he murmured, and Thor’s laugh rumbled between them.

Asgard was made by its people. Loki’s home was made by one person. Despite how much he hated it, sometimes going home was that easy.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed, check me out on [tumblr](http://tirsynni.tumblr.com/)!


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